The real meaning of life.

I always thank mom on my birthday for giving me life. What an amazing mom, role model, friend, and confidant she has been through the years. And so much fun to be around. But this year, since I'm doing Jewish genealogy for the Cotopaxi Colony, I wanted to learn a little more about my birthday.

I was born at 5:30 pm on September 29, 1951, at Riverview Hospital in Noblesville, Indiana.  Before Daylight Savings Time.  And why do I care about any of that?

At 5:30 pm in Indiana, it was the 29th of Elul, 5711 in Jerusalem, 11:30 pm.  That is Erev Rosh Hashana - New Year's Eve in other words in Israel.

In the states, it was still Parashas Nitzavim.  The scripture was Deuteronomy 29:9 - 30:20  The day that God established His covenant with Israel.

WOW!  I could not have a more wonderful birthday date.

The words Parashat Nitzavim means "you are standing".

Now, I know that because of the Hebrew calendar, 9/29 does not always fall on this occassion.  As with this year, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are over and Today is the 21st of Tishrei, 5771 which is Sukkos VII, Hoshana Raba.  the day of the final sealing of judgment.  A guten kvitel - a wish that the verdict is positive.

Funny how 9/29/1951 never had much meaning to me - other than I was a year older and there were presents, a cake, and family around.  But to know now that I was born on the eve of the Jewish New Year, the day God established his covenant with Israel - makes this a huge day that I will rejoice in every year, no matter what day it falls on in the Hebrew calendar.

Deut 30:

¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life — if you and your offspring would live —²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, heeding His commands, and holding fast to Him. For thereby you shall have life and shall long endure upon the soil that the Lord swore to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

I have had 59 amazing years of life.  I'm expecting this one to be even better!

Art notes:  The top 2 pendants have inserts made with metal clay.  All use Nunn Designs Patera blanks.  All use Peg Harper's conditioned Kato Clay and swarovsky crystals from Creative-Crystal.

Peg's Poly Play Day

My good friend, Peg Harper, came to play yesterday.  We always have the best time ever.  I had told her I wanted to make pendants to gift to friends in Israel.  Peg always has the most wonderful ideas!!!  We used Kato clay that Peg had conditioned and added leafing to, so it's all blingie and beautiful.  Then we added swarovski crystals and covered with a layer of Envirotex lite.  The Envirotex takes 72hours to cure, but after 12 hours, you can start to photo them....just not assemble them into pendants.  I am so delighted with the results....I'm photoing 12 hours later!  

Peg designed all 4 of these - aren't they gorgeous???

These blanks came from The Bally Bead Company


The blanks are base metal, silver.  Peg painted the backgrounds with Viva inks.  The inks don't burn off when you bake the clay.  We used liquid Kato to adhere the clay to the blanks.

 My blogger pal, Shari Wallace, turned me on to these blanks.  I just love blogging.  I meet the most wonderful people ever!

So Ruth, what do you think about using Kato Clay for our pre-UTM project???  I know - who's thinking that far ahead?  ha ha!

 

You can see all the tiny crystals embedded in this last one.  Just so much fun.  These are intended to be worn as a pendant....but I think they could be used as decorative items as well.  I may cut the top loop off one and adhere it to a journal!


Stay tuned the next few days as I post different designs - not all are Judaica.  I just started with the best!  Peg Harper - Kato Clay artist extraordinare!!!  Thanks Peg for such a fun day!!!


PS.  Today, Tuesday, 1 day before I turn 59.  I am trying my darnest to stay positive about this....but ONE year away from SIXTY?????  I don't feel it.  I don't think I act it (most days).  I don't want it.  So I've been throwing a little temper tantrum this week.  Kerry is just laughing so hard - he's a whole 2  1/2 years younger than I am.  I just tell myself that I act 10 years younger than he does!  Age is not a number, it's a state of mind.  Can I simply say I'm turning 39 tomorrow?  It would make me so much happier!  LOLOL!!!

Plain Jane Journaling with Spellbinders newest dies and more

Kerry says I don't do anything plain except food! LOL!!! Well, it's true. I really really really tried to do some plain journals....it just doesn't work for me. One was so bad I'm going to tear it up and start over!

This journal is a stuggle for me. It's not plain at all. This is another pendant that I made in a Tim Holtz class years ago. But having just the pendant on the journal is plain to me.

# 7 $15.00


I wanted to go back and show you some more possibilities with Spellbinders newest dies. And then I thought, why not use this as the basis for a simple journal? The possibilities - endless!

Again, I'm using multiple dies to do this with - just more reasons to buy more! ha ha!

2 wings and a key - sound like a song!

I think this next one would be great for a genealogy layout:

I absolutely love, love, love how these all intertwine. So I decided to turn this set into my next "simple" journal and I love it:

# 8 - $12.00

On lots of these journals, I have adorned the inside and back cover. But for this one, one simple verse:

Eph 6:17 - the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Remember the wall hanging I did with the huge medallion made out of diecuts? This is just a smaller version on another journal cover. With lots of swarovski crystals from Creative Crystal - another one of my favorite companies!

# 9 - $15.00

What fun, huh? I may have to make some more journals like these. Maybe I can do "plain" after all!!!

Hope you can come to our sale! It's going to be so much fun!!!

Spellbinders....possibilities!

OK, here's the first design. Made with lots of different new dies...all cut and embossed in white paper.

Put a single die in a circle:

turn them a different direction:

Add a second row, stacking them slightly on top of each other:

Pull them apart so they aren't quite so close together:

Here I added the snowflake petal:

Then I added yet another layer of fluer de lies stacked under the top row (pointing in again)

Then I took it all apart and decided to start all over again!!! This one has a center from the snowflake, then 6 open fleurs pointing in, then upside down crowns with closed fluers pointing out.....do you start to see the the possibilities are endless?
Here I've added an open fluer over each crown, snowflake petals to the closed fluers, and stars to the tips of the closed fluers:

And my final design got changed up just a little bit more. A total of 47 diecuts with 59 swarovsky crystals from Creative Crystal.

and then framed. The inside is 12 x 12".
Wall art. Possibilities. Spellbinders Grand Calibur. Swarovsky Crystals. WorldWin paper. Way too much fun!!!

Vacation Journal p 1

HELLO San Diego!!! I'll be on my way tomorrow morning and meeting with 30 or so of my best friends at Phil's BBQ tomorrow night (the 4th!) I can hardly wait! I've been busy making this wonderful travel journal to take with me to Israel in October...and my gift to my friends will be the instructions. So here's a teaser....just the first page. There are 11 pages - alot of them are envelopes. If you've taken my classes at Scrapbook Your Life! you know that I just love making journals with pockets and flaps and hidden things!




I used Fancy Pants "Road Show" paper for this. Found some pink tape measure ribbon (behind the word TRAVEL). This first page is an envelope, so the dress form is on the flap that will open out. Lot's of rubons. What I like about the design is that I will give you the templates and you can use any paper, any theme....custom design it for you!

That flourish on the left is hand set Swarovsky Crystals using my Bejeweler. I simply hand sketched the flourish with a pencil, then set the crystals on top of it. Gotta love it!!!



This is the inside of the envelope. 3 large tags going inside the envelope. On the flap is a photo mount with 4 tags behind it. FUN!!!



On the back of the envelope, a journaling mount with rubon flourishes added to it.



Now, I need to point out that the word "TRAVEL" is actually an EK Success sticker that read "Traveler". If you take undu to any EK Success layered sticker, you can take them apart, rearrange the letters, make it say anything you want! So I now have a leftover E and R that will go into my bin for another project later on Isn't this just the cutest sticker ever?

Just for fun: A E E L R R T V are the letters you have with this sticker when you take it apart

Travel

Treat

Real

Reel

Tar

Rat

Lever

see where I'm going with this? You your imagination whenever you look at a pre-made embellishment - especially when it's a word!

If you can't make it to San Diego, well, hang on. I'm planning on teaching a similar journal (same patterns and templates, different papers) on Cool2Craft and you'll be able to order a kit with the exact same papers that I use in that journal!

I can smell the ocean already!!! Gotta get those bags packed!!!

200 crystals later.....

A leftover nicho box from the Starving Artists Playground last fall. The window is just 2" x 1 1/2", so pretty tiny. I decided to spray it white. Sure gives it a totally different look.

And then I individually set 200 swarovsky flat back crystals with the heat applicator.

Simply gorgeous hanging on the wall

Inside - a mini diaroma. I used a 10 shekel piece that I got on my last trip to Israel. The equivilent of about $2.62. But I liked the menorah on it. Added a menorah charm, some netting, a star charm, some flowers...

A close up of the crystals. 3mm in diameter. Working pretty tiny here.

It's about 1/2" deep, so you can get a little dimension as well.

Showcasing my keepsakes this week. What wonderful memories. What a great way to plan for our next trip in October. I must bring home more shekels to play with! I need to find more charms and pieces to design with. I best start making my list now!

Truly enjoying this phase of my art - making things that have meaning to me. The Star of David. My shield. My symbol that I am seeking His return.

Layer up!

I'm still not going to say that I'm a card maker, but these were fun! Using Spellbinders new pendant dies (3 of them) and a whole lot of nestabilities that I already had. I think this first one is my favorite!

This next one was so easy to do, but I like how the borders will nest together and make a perfect corner. Both these stamps are from my Lucy McGoo line (yep, I know, I gotta get busy and make more!) And the pearls and swarovsky crystals are from Creative Crystal - another one of my favorite companies!

This one was a little more complex - you can't really see the additonal layer behind the white that is embossed in blue. But it sure is a pretty card. This one is Kerry's favorite. Yeah - we vote around here! LOL!

I think I used 5 different sets of dies on this one. A bit over the top, but quite fun. I love the stamp...from Inkadinkadoo. And as far as I'm concerned, one can never have too much bling on a card!

So, just a reminder, if you live in northern colorado, come see me at the stamp show up in Loveland tomorrow and Sunday! We're going to have a blast! I'm determined to sell all the UCCs and all the pendant dies! Yes, it's ok to email me and tell me what you want me to pull before the show opens! But I can only hide so much in my stash! LOLOL!!!

And I'm going to make "Y" pins for everyone who belongs to the CO Scraps yahoo group - that way we'll all recognize each other. Just stop by the After Midnight Stamps booth to pick yours up!!!

Lea's graduation card

Our neighbor's daughter who is 33 just got her Master's in Library Science. Kerry asked me to make her a graduation card. Well, we don't go to many graduations and I don't have anything "graduation-y" in the house. So I told him we'd have to go buy her one.

And then I got to thinking about Lea. She is just so sweet, plays the piano, teaches piano to kids, loves books......and who says a graduation card has to be anything about "graduation"? I finally got myself out of THAT box! LOLOL!

Used some Basic Gray paper and diecuts and Susan Mostek's slider card design.  Even made an envelope!



Fell in love with this paper the more I worked with it. Amazing how many different cuts you can get out of it.

So, when you pull on the top fibers, the card slides open at the top and the bottom:

Here's a close up of the top

I used a Spellbinder's die to make a pocket to insert her gift check in the bottom part

And guess what?  She absolutely adored the card.  I'm pretty sure it was the only hand made card and I'm so happy I made it because I know she will love it!